Health and Human Services Secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he’ll recommend that local governments remove fluoride from their water supplies. But the mineral is much less prevalent in the drinking water of some states than others, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows.
Less than one-tenth of Hawaii’s municipally served population gets fluoridated drinking water. In New Jersey, fewer than one-fifth of residents on public water are drinking the stuff. In Oregon, barely one-third can say the same.
All told, U.S. News identified 10 states where less than half of residents served by public water systems are getting the additive in their drinking water. (The data doesn’t include residents who drink from private wells or other non-government sources.)
Nearly a century of research shows that fluoride, a naturally occurring mineral, can prevent tooth decay and shore up teeth against cavities. That’s why so many local governments add it to their drinking water. Nationwide, just under three-quarters of Americans on public water systems receive fluoridated water, the CDC data shows. In some parts of the country, where dentists and hygienists are scarce and expensive, fluoridated water is one of just a few stopgaps protecting people’s oral health, according to the agency.
National data on cavity rates is spotty and inconsistently updated. But data from the National Survey of Children’s Health shows that two-thirds or more of third-graders have tooth decay in low-fluoride states like Utah, Hawaii, Idaho and Louisiana. Poor and uninsured Americans, as well as Black Americans, are also more likely than their peers to live with untreated cavities, CDC data shows.
Now, long-standing fears about fluoride’s other health effects are pushing some communities to remove it from their water supplies altogether. High concentrations of fluoride – double or triple the amount typically added to drinking water – can damage teeth and bones, according to the CDC. A handful of studies and a federal literature review have also found a tenuous link between high fluoride levels and reduced IQ scores in children, though others have criticized the review for its lack of rigor. Additional research “relevant to community water fluoridation” didn’t find a connection between fluoride and IQ.
Water fluoridation varies by county and by public water system. Residents of most states can look up their own water system using the CDC’s My Water’s Fluoride tool.
Original article online at: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2024-12-06/map-fluoride-in-drinking-water-by-state